Souderton man headed to jail for two domestic-related assaults

NORRISTOWN — A Souderton man is headed to jail after he admitted to assaulting his onetime girlfriend on two occasions between May and July 2012.

Ryan Blaze Wahalla, 25, of the 100 block of North Second Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to three-to-23 months in the county jail, to be followed by three years’ probation, after he pleaded guilty to charges of simple assault and unlawful restraint in connection with the two domestic-related incidents that occurred at Wahalla’s residence.

Senior Judge S. Gerald Corso, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered Wahalla to complete 36 hours of community service and to have no contact with the victim as conditions of the sentence. Wahalla also must attend and complete domestic violence and anger management counseling programs, the judge said.

Assistant District Attorney Wallis Brooks, who leads the district attorney’s domestic violence prosecution unit, sought jail time against Wahalla.

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“Jail time was warranted, not only because of the nature of the assaults, but because there were two of them,” Brooks said. “This woman was subjected to nasty, degrading incidents and the defendant should be held accountable. Jail is warranted under the circumstances.”

An investigation of Wahalla began on May 2 when the victim, accompanied by her mother, appeared at the Souderton Police Department to report that Wahalla had assaulted the victim. The woman told police she was at the North Second Street apartment where Wahalla became physical with her as the pair argued.

“(The victim) said that during the assault Ryan struck her on the left side of her face, swung her toward the door frame, causing her to strike the right side of her face on the frame, and on two occasions he choked her,” Souderton Police Officer Thomas A. Lawson alleged in the criminal complaint. “He also choked her so she could not breath and to the point where she was close to passing out.”

On July 8, Wahalla and the woman were involved in another argument at Wahalla’s residence and Wahalla prevented the woman from leaving the apartment, according to the arrest affidavit.

“She told me that he ripped her clothes off of her, telling her that if she was going to leave she would have to leave naked,” Lawson alleged. “(The victim) reported that during the assault Ryan gouged her eyes with his thumbs, causing her to scream. During the course of the physical confrontation (the victim) received other bruises on her arms and knee.”

The woman told police that Wahalla kept her from leaving the apartment “and also told her he would kill her before she ever left him,” according to the criminal complaint.

By pleading guilty to the assault charge, Wahalla admitted that he attempted to cause or intentionally or recklessly caused bodily injury to another person.